All I Want for Christmas
by Helaine85
Summary: This is the Sequel to 5 Men and a Little Lady. It's been two years since Meiling showed up, and Wufei decides that she needs more than one parent. WufeiXSally.


Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or it's characters. Meiling is all mine, though.^__^  
  
All I Want for Christmas  
  
(Meiling Style)  
  
  
  
"Onna, would you please explain to me again why I'm doing this?"  
  
Sally sighed. They'd been standing in this same line at the mall for over an hour already. It was murder to get Wufei to come down here in the first place, but Meiling deserved to have a little fun around the holidays. Normally Wufei refused to celebrate, claiming that he was Bhuddhist and therefore wanted nothing to do with it. Unfortunately for him, his daughter was not of the same mindset.  
  
"Papa, when's Santa coming back?" Meiling asked, tugging gently on the end of her father's shirt.  
  
"Santa? Oh you mean the fat old man," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "How should I know?"  
  
They'd stood in line forever to get up to the front so Meiling could go get her picture taken with Santa Claus, however just before she got the chance to do so, the jolly old elf had decided to take a lunch break. He'd been gone for nearly a half an hour already, and she could hear Wufei's teeth grinding in frustration over the sound of irate mothers and noisy children.  
  
"I wanna see Santa," Meiling complained quietly, still pulling on his shirt with one small fist. Sally smiled at her and patted her hair.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be here soon," she reassured her. Meiling smiled back half-heartedly, but didn't stop pouting and looking about for the large man in red.  
  
Nearly twenty minutes later, Wufei had completely lost all remnants of sanity.  
  
"I can't take this anymore! I'm completely surrounded by weaklings, most of whom are even more annoying than *Maxwell*, and you claim this is supposed to be fun?!" he ranted, glaring daggers at her. "Well I've had enough! I'm leaving this hell hole, do you hear me onna?!"  
  
Sally nodded, grabbing his arm (gently, she didn't want to have it broken after all) and turning him around. "Wufei, for once why don't you think of what she wants? Please? Look here he comes."  
  
Wufei growled, crossing his arms over his chest and promising death to anyone who happened to get within a five-foot radius of him. Fortunately for all of them, the women behind them had the sense to scoot back a bit.  
  
The elves unhooked the gate keeping the kids back and ushered Meiling through. She grinned happily, running up to where Santa was now once again sitting on his high back chair.  
  
"Well hello little girl," "Santa" said, grinning at her as she climbed up to sit on his leg. "What do you want for Christmas?"  
  
"Christmas?" she asked. "Well, my daddy doesn't celebrate Christmas 'cause he says it's for baka gaijin[1] and he didn't want to bring me today but Sally made him 'cause she's nice and she said that she'd give me a Christmas present."  
  
Santa blinked. "So what *do* you celebrate?"  
  
"We have a winter festival party with candy and toys and big dragon pictures, and I get to wear a speacial dress with a pretty bird[2] on it," she informed him, and the old man raised an eyebrow at her. "But I wanna get Christmas presents too."  
  
"Okay… well, what kind of Christmas present do you want?"  
  
"Hmm… I know!" she exclaimed face lighting up. "I wanna mommy!"  
  
Wufei drew in a sharp breath as he heard the sudden exclamation from his daughter, staring at her in shock. 'She wants a mother?' he wondered. He felt a sharp tugging in his chest as his mind slipped back to years ago, back to the mother that she should've had. 'Meiran…'  
  
Sally watched Wufei's face, the pain on his features clearly evident. 'He still loves her… Meiran, I'm so sorry, I wish you could be here for them now. They still need you, and I don't think I'm the right one to take your place.'  
  
Santa blanched, looking around as if for an answer. Then his face softened as he felt his heart go out to the little girl sitting in his lap. "Well, dear, I'm afraid I can't give you that. Your mother never left you to begin with, so I don't need to give you a new one."  
  
She looked crestfallen for a moment, then nodded. "I know she's still here, but I can't hug her, and I can't see her."  
  
He hugged her, thinking of the young daughter that he had lost so many years ago. "Don't worry, you may not be able to see her, but she'll always be with you. Now, is there anything else you want?"  
  
Meiling nodded, and stopped to think for a minute. "I wanna dragon!"  
  
Santa facevaulted, and then laughed. "Well, I'll see what I can do, but dragons are awfully hard to come by these days!"  
  
Sally laughed to herself, then glanced over at Wufei. 'Boy, was that ever true… she'd never known anybody quite like him before.'  
  
The elves took the picture, and then Meiling hopped off his lap. The old man smiled warmly at her, tears springing up into his eyes as he handed her a candy cane. "She'll always be with you," he said, speaking more to himself than to Meiling.  
  
  
  
  
  
The drive home was quiet. Very quiet, which was exactly how Wufei liked it. For once neither Meiling nor Sally were ranting on with their usual annoying chatter. But for some reason, right now he wished that they would. His thoughts were becoming more and more depressing as he began to realize the depth behind his daughter's simple words. Meiling needed a mother; he wasn't enough, and he knew that. But what could he do? Meiran was dead, and he wasn't sure he was ready to replace her yet. The girl couldn't just have a father; after all she'd been through, she deserved a good family.  
  
He pulled into one of the garages, stepping out of the car to help Meiling out. She jumped out and ran into the house, yelling something about wanting to help Quatre make cookies.  
  
It was Christmas Eve. Wufei had never celebrated Christmas before; for a long time growing up he wasn't allowed to, and then during the war there was no reason to celebrate. Besides, he was Chinese anyways, and Christmas was a Western holiday. 'But Quatre and Heero always celebrate it, and so does Sally… none of them are Westerners, or Christians'.With that thought in mind, he climbed back into the car.  
  
"Where are you going Wufei?" Sally, looking at him in surprise.  
  
"Out," he answered quickly, then softened his voice. "I need to get something."  
  
She nodded, watching as he drove off down the long driveway. 'I should probably go home,' she thought to herself, but the door swung open shattering her thoughts.  
  
"Oh, Sally, what are you doing out here?" Quatre asked. "Why don't you come on inside? It's getting cold out. Who knows, maybe we'll even get snow tonight!"  
  
"Yes, that would be nice," she agreed, following the blonde into the house.  
  
"Duo! What on earth are you doing?!" Quatre practically screamed as he stumbled upon the chaos reigning in his kitchen. Duo and Meiling stood in the middle of it, covered in flour, eggs, water and God only knows what else. Duo put a hand behind his head, laughing nervously, while Meiling continued to blink and poke a broken egg shell with her toe.  
  
"Honestly, I leave you alone out here for two minutes and my kitchen is a disaster!" he wailed. "How could you do *this* much damage in just two minutes?!"  
  
Sally laughed, interrupting him. "Calm down before you have a heart attack Quatre. Meiling, you come with me, we need to clean you up."  
  
She led Quatre into the living room sitting him down at the couch, then noticed a certain dark-haired girl who was quietly reading on the chair across from him. Smirking, Sally took Meiling's hand so she wouldn't run away when thing's livened up.  
  
"Oh Hilde, I believe Duo could use a little 'Supervision'?"  
  
Hilde arched an eyebrow, dropped the book, and ran to the kitchen. "DUO!! What have you done?!"  
  
"Come on Meiling," Sally commanded, pulling the girl upstairs.  
  
"I wanna see," she whined, trying to peek into the kitchen, where banging could be heard, along with a colorful chain of profanities from both occupants of the room. Sally blinked, then covered Meiling's ears. Meiling pouted and followed her dejectedly up to the bathroom.  
  
  
  
"Okay, Meiling, it's warm now," she said, wiping her hand off on a towel. Meiling's eyes widened as she saw the bubbles, and ran and jumped in, water flooding over the sides and splashing all over the floor and Sally.  
  
"Wow! Papa never gives me bubbles!" She giggled excitedly, blowing a handfull of them out of her hand. "I want you to give me baths all the time!"  
  
Sally rolled her eyes, throwing a few of her toys into the tub and then sitting down to rest on the toilet. She glanced over at herself in the mirror. It had been years since the war, two since they'd found Meiling. She'd changed so much, they all had. Ten years ago she never would've been able to enjoy the holidays, or go shopping at the mall. Taking care of Meiling made her feel something, maternal almost, that she'd forgotten. It was a feeling she used to know when she was a doctor, watching over her patients. But being able to watch this girl grow, and learn, it was something so much stronger than anything she'd experienced before.  
  
She knew she loved the Shenlong pilot, but she wasn't so sure that he felt the same, and it was something that she was never certain of. He needed a lot, especially now that he had a daughter, and all these memories of Meiran were resurfacing. It wasn't that she wasn't ready to help him, or didn't want to, it was simply that she didn't think he'd let her. During the war, many of them had been forced to create walls around themselves, not letting others in for fear of being hurt. Back then you had to be strong, all the time, or you would die.  
  
But now, the war was over and peace had finally fallen over the earth and the colonies. However, Wufei still wasn't able to let go of the barriers that he'd built around himself, and she didn't know if she was strong enough to make him open up to her. She'd tried so many times, but Wufei always pushed her away in the end.  
  
"Sally!"  
  
Sally snapped back in to the real world, glancing down at Meiling who was eyeing her impatiently from the bathtub. "What?"  
  
"Aren't you gonna wash my hair or anything?" she asked.  
  
"Oh!" Sally laughed at herself, kneeling down in front of the tub and pouring the shampoo onto her palm. Meiling closed her eyes tightly, hands balling up into fists.  
  
"What's the matter?" Sally asked, worry crossing her face. Meiling didn't open her eyes, just spoke through clenched teeth.  
  
"Papa always gets soap in my eyes," she explained, and Sally chuckled.  
  
"Calm down, I'm not going to get any soap in your eyes," she promised, carefully rubbing the soap into her dark hair. Meiling slowly opened her eyes, then smiled in surprise as the expected soap never came.  
  
"There, see this isn't so bad, now is it?"  
  
"I'm never gonna let Papa give me a bath ever again!" Meiling swore with strong enthusiasm.  
  
'Crap,' Sally groaned inwardly. 'Wufei's going to kill me.'  
  
  
  
  
  
Wufei stepped into the house quietly, a huge bag in his arms. He'd spent all day trying to find this. Bhuddhist temples were harder to find around here than he thought. The house was oddly silent here, except for the distant sound of voices in the background. 'They must be in the living room' he thought to himself.  
  
After hiding the bag, he followed the sounds of singing until he reached the large room where everyone had gathered. Duo and Hilde seemed to be leading everyone in an old Christmas carol that he'd never heard before. Everyone was here; Relena had even managed to drag an unwilling Heero away from his infamous laptop, although the 01 pilot was refusing to sing and merely drank his eggnog in silence.  
  
Sally looked up at him as he entered, almost surprised to see him there. He looked around for a moment, noting that even Zechs and Noin had shown up for the little Christmas party and were sitting near Heero and Relena. All of the girls were there, and Une, but he didn't see Meiling over there with them.  
  
As his gaze returned to Sally, he noticed the little girl that had fallen asleep in her lap, hair still slightly damp. He sat down beside them, careful not to wake her.  
  
"You gave her a bath?" he asked, surprised. It was murder to get that child into the bathroom, and rather shocking that anyone would do that willingly.  
  
Sally laughed at the shock on his face. "It's not so bad as long as you don't get soap in her eyes. And bubbles helps too. She jumped right in."  
  
"Thanks," he said, rather awkwardly, then smiled. Meiling really liked Sally, that he knew, and Sally had always loved the little girl. They did well together, but he didn't know if *he* would fit into that picture. Sally didn't deserve someone with as many problems as him, but she'd stuck around for this long, so maybe she'd stay anyway.  
  
The song ended and talking and laughter broke out amongst the group. It was odd for him to be here with them; they were all so different, with almost nothing in common. Quatre was an Arabic millionaire, Duo and Hilde average Americans with not so average pasts, Trowa and Catherine circus performers, Une, Zechs,Noin and Sally were all preventers and their old enemies from the days when Oz and Treize had been alive, Heero an assasin and yet somehow still in love with Relena (in his own way), and she was the symbol of peace, the key to keeping everything together. Somehow, they'd all been brought together by the war, and stayed together. Why, he couldn't imagine, but here they were, talking and laughing like they were a family.  
  
Inside he did consider them friends, even if he'd never admit it, and he knew that they felt the same towards him. But even so, he'd always been slightly outcast, always solitary, despite their efforts to get close to him. The only one who never really backed off was Sally, and annoying as that could be, he was still grateful for it.  
  
"You want some eggnog Wufei? I promise Duo didn't put too much in this one," Hilde offered, handing him a glass of it before he had a chance to refuse. She grinned at him before darting back over to where she and Duo started another carol.  
  
"I'd drink that slowly if I were you," Sally cautioned. "I only had a few sips before I started to feel lightheaded, and coming from an ex-soldier, that's saying something."  
  
To her surprise, Wufei smiled, and sipped it carefully. He blanched, his face contorting. "Good gods, Maxwell, what the hell did you put in this?!"  
  
Duo just laughed and flashed him a V sign before rejoining Hilde in the 12 days of Christmas. Wufei rolled his eyes, setting the glass down on a nearby table.  
  
"Sorry, Wufei, I have no idea where he found alcohol," Quatre apologized, still eyeing his own cup rather skeptically.  
  
It was hours later before most of everyone had already gone to bed or, in Duo and Hilde's case, passed out on the couch. Wufei still sat beside Sally and Meiling, not wanting to get up quite yet. The fire in front of him was warm, and he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from the leaping flames. They'd bought a large Christmas tree a few days ago, and it stood beside the fireplace, presents piled beneath it, tiny white lights glowing amongst its branches.  
  
Above the fire, they'd even hung stockings, all of them squished together together as Quatre wanted one for everyone, but fortunately had agreed to hang the Magaunacs' in the hallway instead.  
  
Sally tapped his shoulder, drawing his attention over to the window. "Look, Wufei, it's snowing."  
  
Wufei smiled. "Yes… we never got snow on the colonies. It's beautiful."  
  
Sally looked at him, surprised, but smiled just the same. "Yeah, it is. I always loved it as a child. We used to stay up all night in the winter watching the snowflakes fall."  
  
Wufei swallowed hard. It was now or never… "Sally…"  
  
She looked up at him, and he pulled a small box from his pocket, keeping it out of sight. "Meiling was right earlier. She needs a mother, and Meiran may be with her in spirit, but she needs someone who will tuck her in at night, someone who will help her in ways that I can't. And I need someone too. Sally, will you marry me?"  
  
Sally stared at him in complete shock as he drew the little black box out of the shadows, and handed it to her. She took it with shaking hands, opening it slowly to reveal a diamond set in a silver band, sparkling in the firelight.  
  
Wufei looked at her, catching her eyes. "I know this is sudden, and that I'm asking a lot, but I love you. Meiling's not the only one that needs you; I need you too."  
  
She felt tears welling up in her eyes as a bright smile lit her face. "Yes, I love you too, Wufei…"  
  
He pulled her into an embrance, gently brushing her lips with his own in a soft kiss. Meiling opened one eye, seeing the scence above her and grinning. 'I knew Santa would bring me a mommy,' she thought to herself. The three of them laid there for a while, until sleep finally overcame them as well.  
  
  
  
Wufei was gone when she woke up that morning, and for a moment Sally wondered if it had all just been a dream. But the ring on her finger spoke otherwise. In the kitchen she could hear movement, and she slid away from where Meiling had been lying in her lap.  
  
"Good morning," she said as she saw Wufei pouring himself a cup of coffee. He turned around and smiled at her, handing her a mug.  
  
"Merry Christmas," he whispered, kissing her. She slid her arms around his waist, smiling back.  
  
"Merry Christmas. Don't you think we should wake up that daughter of yours? There's presents to open after all."  
  
"She's your daughter now too," Wufei reminded her, sliding out of her arms and heading into the living room. She followed behind him, a feeling of contentment that she'd never known before filling her whole being.  
  
"Meiling," Sally whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. The girl's eyes fluttered open, and then she jumped up a minute later, running over to the christmas tree as she realized just what day it was.  
  
Even though her father had never celebrated before, the other gundam pilots and girls had always loved to shower her with presents, and she found that once again there were plenty with her name on them. But one in the back, in red and gold paper, caught her eye. She pulled it forward, noticing at once how familiar that design was. She struggled to read the tag, recognizing the kanji for her name, and then a moment later her eyes widened as she remembered the second.  
  
"Papa?" she breathed looking up at him in wonder. He pretended to be angry, scowling at her from where he and Sally sat on the couch.  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for brat? Open it," he said gruffly, and she giggled happily, tearing at the paper.  
  
A moment later, Meiling stared breathlessly at a Chinese statue of a dragon, ornate carvings and jewels making intricate patterns across its surface. The awe died a moment later, and she hugged the statue to her, before running over to hug her father as well, who merely stared down at her with a small smile on his face.  
  
"Thank you Papa! Now I got a dragon *and* a mommy!" she squealed happily. Sally and Wufei exchanged glances, even though neither of them was terribly surprised that she already knew.  
  
"So now you've got everything you wanted, right?" Sally said, ruffling her hair as she turned to hug her too.  
  
"Well, there was one more thing I wanted," she informed them, face lighting up once again with innocent enthusiasm.  
  
Wufei, for some reason, had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "And what is that?"  
  
She grinned at them. "I wanna baby brother!"  
  
  
  
Owari (we hope!)  
  
[1] baka gaijin= stupid/idiot foreigner  
  
[2] pretty bird= the phoenix, or Suzaku. In China it represents girls, where a dragon represents boys. 


End file.
